Pope Benedict’s top aide blames the devil and the media for leaks scandal

The Pope’s right hand man has blamed the ‘devil and the media’ for the latest Vatican documents scandal.

Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has made the accusations in response to a scandal over leaked Vatican documents in the Italian media.

Cardinal Bertone told an Italian Catholic weekly that journalists reporting on the leaks scandal are ‘pretending to be Dan Brown, inventing stories and replaying legends’.

Brown is the best selling author of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’.

The Associated Press reports that Vatican has been on the defensive ever since sensitive documents alleging corruption and exposing power struggles began appearing in the Italian media in January.

A recently published book contained dozens of documents from Pope Benedict XVI’s own desk and is seen as part of a plot to undermine Bertone’s authority.

Pope Benedict XVI has also complained about media reports that: “Went well beyond the facts, offering an image of the Holy See that doesn’t correspond to reality.”

Now Cardinal Bertone’s interview with Famiglia Cristiana has taken the complaints to a new level.

He blasted the ‘vehemence’ of some Italian newspapers in seeking to create divisions between the pope and his collaborators where there weren’t any.

“The truth is that there’s a will to create division that comes from the devil,” said Cardinal Bertone.

“The Holy See isn’t perfect and none of us wants to hide the church’s shadows and defects.

“But the Italian media in particular has gone too far, violating the privacy rights of both the pope and the people who correspond with him by publishing leaked documents.”

He also said that, contrary to media reports depicting factions opposed to him within the Vatican bureaucracy, he enjoys ‘an extraordinary climate of communion’ with his colleagues. Bertone added: “Personally, I don’t sense any sign of cardinals or church personalities being involved in any conquest of some phantom power.”

The only person arrested so far during investigations into the leaks is the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, a 46-year-old father of three who was arrested May 23 and accused of aggravated theft after reams of papal documents were found in his Vatican City apartment.